Memoirs of an Ace Pilot
by Zackislord
Summary: Eh, my attempt at an Ace Combat Fanfic. For now, it's all clean and whatnot. Later on, however, this may become a lemon. If it does, it will be focused on Blaze and Nagase.
1. Prologue

Warning: Later on, this may become a lemon. Not sure. But, for now, it's going to follow the normal storyline, with a few extra details added in by yours truly.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor do I own Ace Combat 5, which is where they came from. All ownership of the characters, and the basic plotline itself belong to Namco, and their Ace Combat group named "Project Aces."

Author's Note: So far, this will follow the regular storyline, and it will be from Genette's less poetic point-of-view. Later on, I may add a few things, such as characters, missions, et cetera, and it may become a lemon. For now, it is what it is.

* * *

Things were happening too quickly; no one could fully grasp the situation at hand. It had seemed, however, that we were being attacked by Yuktobania, for reasons unknown. Of course, this was not the thought traveling through my mind while I was in the back of a plane flying at over eight hundred miles per hour. This was especially true as we went hurtling towards the ocean that threatened to swallow the aircraft whole if we dared to get closer to its icy waves. 

The Captain, Jack Bartlett, or, as we knew him, "Heartbreak One," had sent the recruits low, which was supposed to be out of the combat zone, while he went high to engage the enemy. He roared loudly as he sent his plane towards the sea and performed maneuvers that almost made me sick, before he and the other instructors charged ahead, to eliminate the threat.

I had no idea what I was in for, but I felt it would be horrible. I could not yet fathom the horror of attempting to dodge missiles while trying to defeat multiple air-bound enemy pilots; it was just too surreal. Little did I know, I would not have to worry about that as much as I had feared, for the command room had misplaced a few zeroes, sending the squadron of fresh pilots down to engage the enemies themselves.

The battle would be impossible for the fresh pilots, who still had troubling doing the most simplistic of things, such as keeping their plane level in the air. Sadly, this had been proven as they were quickly killed, and dove into the salty grave below, never again to see the light of day. Bartlett was quick to get his plane down to the engagement zone, but was too late to do much good; he was forced to complete makeshift damage-control.

In the end, only one novice pilot survived this hell of a training flight. Kei Nagase had put up a solid defense; much more than expected from a pilot of her class. It was her good luck and tenacity which allowed her to fly back to base alive, even though the rest of her comrades would not be joining her.

Captain Bartlett came back with her, though he lost his other training crew. One had been shot down in battle, while the other hadn't quite managed to land his plane; both of them died. Heartbreak One was much luckier than either of them, but even his good fortune look grim compared to the pilots who stayed on the ground that day.

After exiting his plane, the Captain gave me a misplaced apology, and then turned back to Nagase.

"Nagase, you keep flying like that, and you'll die real soon!" He yelled. He didn't seem angry at the trainee; rather, disappointed with himself.

"I won't die, sir," she replied, calmly. Her expression was one of sorrow; grievance of losing the other training pilots that day. It certainly wasn't her fault that the events of the day had unfolded the way they did, but she still wanted to blame herself, inwardly.

Nagase, callsign Edge, was a very beautiful woman, but with that beauty came danger. Like a black widow, she was not a girl to be messed with, and she would hold a grudge if you angered her. She had short, brown hair, which accented the rest of her face quite nicely. It would suffice to say that with her kind eyes, and pretty hair, she was someone you would give a second look. Furthermore, with her normally cheery attitude, stunning personality, and overall happy outlook on life, she was someone anyone would be lucky to know. Her loyalty was fierce, and her love of flying burned so brightly, it was astounding that the fuel in her plane never ignited.

Then, of course, we have Alvin H. Davenport, who went by "Chopper" for his moniker. This young, handsome man was quite the motormouth, which later earned him such a nickname for Bartlett. He was a kind fellow, and was very selfless, though his good deeds often went unnoticed. Chopper was the sort of man who would stay true to his morals, no matter the cost, and support those he cared for, despite the reprimand. Little did he know, that was what usually got him into the most trouble.

These two pilots were to fly alongside another new recruit, who went by "Blaze." His real name was unrevealed, and he lived in a shadow of mystery, preferring to speak only when spoken to. His skills as a pilot would quickly flourish, and he would become a hero to the people, following in the footsteps of the almighty Razgriz, a fictional demon of the North Sea.

It was here, at the Sand Island Military Base, that their stories would start. Their first mission would not be a tough one, but it would be strenuous on the new recruits. Their untapped power had lain dormant inside themselves, and the aircraft they were to fly. These are their stories; I am but a narrator. 

* * *

Author's Notes: This is just an intro chapter, so sorry about the length, and lack of detail. Should be better later, so don't quit reading just yet.  



	2. Operation Lagoon

Same stuff as before, in terms of warnings and disclaimers.

Author's Notes: I must remember to use more vivid details, and develop my characters later on. This may be the key to having a good story. 

* * *

Their first mission, Codenamed "Operation Lagoon," was supposed to be a walk in the park. All it entailed was that they fly to a damaged plane, and request that it land so that it could be identified by the Sand Island crew, who could phone in the information to the higher-ups. At the time, this seemed like the easiest mission in the world. 

As the pilots first took to the skies, everything seemed to be going alright. In fact, the mission was carrying itself out perfectly. Heartbreak One and Chopper had exchanged a few words to one another, and they were then sending out the landing request to the unmarked airplane.

Four, high-speed air cruisers were on their way, marching into the airspace of Heartbreak One's squadron. Their bearing was the same as the fighters who attacked the nuggets, one day prior. As they came in, the "Wardog" squadron began to tense; there could be no repeats of yesterday, no matter how minor the incident.

"Thunderhead," the AWACS (Advanced Warning and Control System) assigned to Bartlett's flight warned them of the unallied approach, yet ordered them to hold back from firing on the unknown squadron who had encroached their territory. This order had not gone over well with Captain Bartlett, who was not about to see any of his remaining pilots senselessly lose their lives.

"Shut up" and "Fire" had been the only words Blaze had heard enter his mind, and he wouldn't hesitate to do just that. Immediately after those three words were processed, he threw on the afterburners, boosting himself towards the four jets that were making their approach.

Little had his squadron members known, Blaze was not as untrained and unrefined as he had seemed. Quite the contrary, in fact, as he had four years of pilot's training under his belt. Two of those four years had been commercial, while the other half were in the air force. In relativity to the military, his commercial experience meant nothing, but because of his half-Belkan bloodline descent, the higher-ups had decided to "Accidentally 'misplace' his file," and they immediately tossed him back to trainee status.

The four inbound fighters were in a line, just like the British. They would be until they made their pass. Afterwards, they would split off, and attempt to flank the Wardog Squadron. Of course, with the F-4's basic combat capabilities, changing such a thing would not be his easiest task. Just before the four planes made their pass, they released four missiles, none of which were locked on Blaze.

In that exact moment, he had already begun to flip his plane. In this maneuver, he would line himself up behind one of the planes, and launch two of his sidewinders into the airborne, soon-to-be, hunk-of-junk. He trailed one of the planes, allowing himself to get within five hundred feet of the target before releasing two of his plane's missiles. He had already split off in search of his next fighter, not bothering to confirm his kill. From that range, it would have taken an ace pilot to avoid contact with the projectiles; aside from that, one of the squad members would verbally confirm it for him.

Over the entire course of the sky-high goings-on, "Thunderdolt," as Blaze decided to call him, had been repeatedly telling the Wardog Squadron to hold their fire. One would think that by this time, the AWACS unit would just keep an eye on things, and help them out, as it was blatantly obvious that the squad members weren't going to follow any orders, save their captains. And to further that, the Captain wasn't going to follow orders from anyone else, until a retreat had been called by the enemy.

Chopper launched a missile into the back of one of the bogeys, and then began to shoot his 20 millimeter bullets into its engines, which caused a nice, large explosion as the plane began to topple headfirst into the foreign waters below. His kill was confirmed by Bartlett, who then saw Nagase soar past, aiming for the last enemy fighter on radar. She had no problem catching her prey, and she fired her machine gun into it, ripping the fuselage in half.

In that moment, Blaze's missile alert went off, and a new wave of enemies appeared on their scopes. He and the others already knew what to do; there was no way the other guys were backing down, and the same went for Wardog. Of course, this would come back to bite Captain Bartlett in the ass, later, but for now, it was smooth sailing.

Edge and Blaze were flying side-by-side, their planes racing towards the new squadron of enemies. And when they were close, Blaze commanded her to break right, hard, and swoop in behind the hostile aircraft; he would do the same from the left. In theory, Blaze thought, this would be the best tactical solution to destroying the bogeys. For one, they shouldn't really be expecting it, and two, Blaze was better than they knew.

Edge did as she was told, and the maneuver actually worked. The two of them were right behind the enemy planes, and ready to strike. Chopper and Bartlett were on their way to the new bogeys, but they didn't look like they were going to make it soon enough to claim a kill.

Edge and Blaze both unleashed two sidewinders into the back to the planes ahead of them, and two dropped out of the sky. They moved their planes closer together to get a lock on the remaining two foes. Just as they got their lock, the planes split, attempting to get away from the unsuspecting Wardog members, and it would have worked, but Heartbreak One and Chopper were using the afterburners to catch up, and that they did. They each launched two of their missiles, and watched as the hostile aircraft ungracefully tumbled from the horizon.

Just then, everyone's nerves settled. Chopper, who said that he "Had no time to even be afraid" had finally gotten over the shock of the battle, and seemed to now actually be sitting in his plane. Edge remained silent, as did Blaze, and Heartbreak One was talking about celebrating, to commemorate the success of the battle. Furthermore, he told Blaze that his new nickname was "Kid," and that he was going to continue calling him that, no matter what.

As they flew back to base, the squad received their regular debriefing. There were two orders attached to it; one, all information about that day's battle was to remain classified, and two, Captain Jack Bartlett was to report to Base Headquarters immediately. That he did, with a smirk on his face; he had known what was coming. Another one of those "Pointless slaps on the wrist," as he called them. 

* * *

Author's Notes: Too short, in terms of length in chapter. Also, not enough sensory details. Learn to apply these as the story progresses, and add more out-of-mission details. These may be the things I am looking for in order to write well.  



End file.
